


Just Like We Practiced

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint has adopted Wanda, Don't startle the telepathic telekinetic, Gen, Natasha and Steve are Parent Friends, Natasha sees everything, Natasha takes care of everybody, Steve is the mom friend, Wanda almost broke Steve, Wanda has nightmares, Wanda worries about breaking Steve, bashes Tony a bit, references Wanda's first days on the team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 21:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18415931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: Steve had said, in the movie when he asked Wanda to lift him into the building, "Just like we practiced." But just how did they come up with the idea of her lifting people with her powers, and putting them up somewhere like an escalator? Perhaps it was because Wanda accidentally sent a certain tall, blond Avenger face-first into the floor once and he decided he would help her learn to utilize this as a confidence building exercise. Natasha keeps an eye, Thor and Sam help build the training grounds, and Wanda has found her new home. Takes place between AGE OF ULTRON and CIVIL WAR.





	Just Like We Practiced

**Author's Note:**

> NO spoilers for ENDGAME. No shipping, unless you turn your head and squint. 
> 
> Triggers: references nightmares and Pietro's death, someone gets a bloody lip and nose, and discussion of the interactions going on inside Banner (between Bruce & Hulk).
> 
> Please enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Wanda sat at the edge of her bed, hood pulled over her head, knees pulled to her chest, and hands over her face. She was so embarrassed. Mortified. And whenever Tony saw the footage, which of course he would because FRIDAY was a snitch, he was going to ride her case forever. As if he knew a thing about controlling his emotions and not letting them get the better of him. She was a telepath, she knew for a fact he mentally yelled at himself for the same crap he got on her about.

She wanted to go someplace else. Like getting swallowed by the bed and coming out in that place in West Virginia where technology wasn’t allowed. The only Avenger that might hang out there would be Steve, or maybe Clint. Although Clint really liked microwaves and she was pretty sure the people in that blackout area had to live more like the Amish. No microwaves, cell phones, or wireless headphones.

All she had wanted was to fix herself some breakfast after a long training session the night before had left her too tired to eat dinner. She was a bit shaky from the lack of nutrition and she had not gotten very good sleep. For weeks, she would have dreamless sleep or nice, normal, quiet dreams about unicorns or walks down familiar yet totally foreign streets. Then, for days at a time, she would have terrible nightmares. Ones where her brother was lost and looking for her, bleeding from injuries she could have protected him from if she had been there for him as he had always been there for her.

Just as she had reached for the coffee pot, there had been a noise and she reacted with a violent outburst of her power. Steve had been in the hall, just outside of the kitchen, his back turned as he had heard Bruce call out to him. When Wanda got out to the hall, hearing a groaning sound and Bruce shouting, she found Steve face-down on the floor with blood coming from his nose and also on his lower lip. She had hurt him enough to make him bleed.

As she saw Bruce running towards them, she took off. She had wanted to make sure Steve was alright, but she still had trouble dealing with the constant tug of war raging inside the scientist even when everything was relaxed and calm at the Tower or the new Avengers Facility. Steve had tried to call after her, but Wanda could not turn back and face him. Instead, she fled to her room upstairs and was considering not-leaving until New Year’s.

“Hey.”

She looked up over her hands, her hood and hair still obscuring both her face and her vision. There stood Steve, in his workout gear, at her door. She was confused. They did not have a scheduled session together. Natasha usually hit the gym and the practice area with Wanda, or Clint when he was around. And Sam, on one memorably horrible occasion.

“Suit up, we’re gonna run some drills.”

“I don’t feel like practicing with a gun or running a marathon, right now.”, she said as she turned to curl further into the blankets.

She should have known Steve would not be so easily deterred. He moved to sit on the edge of her bed and let out a small sigh.

“Hardly the first time I’ve busted my face on the floor.”

“First time it was my fault.”

“It was an accident, you can’t let every accident be cause for a total breakdown. You’re better than that.”

She turned, looking back at him over her shoulder. Scrunching her eyebrows, she searched his face. It was not a joke. He was not teasing her.

“What do you suppose I do, Captain?”

He clearly fought a small smile at her using his title. He knew he’d made the dent he was aiming for.

“Train. Hone your control. Then you won’t have to worry so much about accidently letting loose and hurting someone.”

“How do you suppose to do this?”

“One day at a time.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Bruce and Clint.”

Steve shrugged one shoulder, looking back towards her guitar.

“Tony can’t chew you out so much when he gets back, if you’re already training with me. Nat will eat him alive if he does.”

“Fair point.”

For a moment, neither moved or spoke. Wanda considered Steve’s reasoning. None of it was incorrect. And, if she were honest, the person she trusted most on the team – aside from Clint, was Steve. She trusted Thor, Natasha, and Sam greatly. However, there was something about the Steve that had another level to it. Sometimes she thought it was simply that he had just rolled with she and Pietro’s helping him against Ultron, then truly listened to her when she spoke to him later. He took her to the Avengers Tower without her using her powers to influence him, and from what she saw in Pietro’s mind, Steve had been kinder to him than they deserved during their attack at Ultron’s side.

“Alright. Give me ten minutes to get ready and get down the gym.”

“Okay, but I want you to meet me outside the walls. Sam and Thor help me set up a special course for this.”

Wanda eyed him.

“You’ve been preparing.”

“I already had some idea about special training with you before the little accident this morning.”

She nodded. Steve offered a friendly tip of the head and then walked out with that determined, steady walk of his. It had not taken long for her to learn all of their steps. Bruce’s slightly irregular steps as he inevitably stepped out of the way of others or got lost in his own head for a moment here and there. Clint’s were light but even. Tony’s were quick and noisy, Vision and Natasha were both silent, and Thor sounded as though he were marching or as if he were a two-legged elephant. Everyone had a walk, and she knew each as well as she knew the smells in the kitchen to know what was cooking.

Rising from the bed, she rolled her neck and shoulders as she walked over to her closet. A skirt, hoodie, bunny slippers, and fuzzy socks were hardly ideal for training with a super soldier in an outdoor course. She picked out a zip-up hoodie meant for jogging, a black tank top, some loose black shorts, regular socks, and her ruby red sneakers. The sneakers had been a gift from Natasha shortly after Wanda came to live with the Avengers.

At the time she arrived, all Wanda had were the clothes on her back and a single photo of her family the last time they were all together for she and Pietro’s shared birthday. Natasha and Clint had taken her right away to go shopping, on her second day. Steve had offered her a nightshirt to sleep in that came past her knees while Natasha offered her a satin robe to wear over it. While shopping, Clint had gotten her a keychain with a second use as a weapon, Natasha bought her the ruby red sneakers.

A few minutes later, she was outside and finally able to see the course that Steve had built for her, with Sam and Thor. There seemed to be three different raised platforms, each a different size, and with thin ladders coming out the back ends of them. There were also little bridges in among these raised platforms and a couple lower platforms. She was not entirely sure what his plan was.

Steve stood only a few feet away, sketching away in the little sketchbook he often carried with him. He was using a tree as a leaning post and in his dark blue track pants and gray shirt, he still looked like a soldier. Wanda supposed that when one had gone through the training and then spent so much time fighting a way beside their fellow trained soldiers, it became too ingrained to easily break.

“Alright, what are we doing? Are you going to make me run this like an obstacle course, and have to use my powers at the same time to levitate plates?”

Steve stood, tucking his sketchbook into the pocket of his jacket tied at his waist. Wanda thought it was interesting how at ease he could be when left alone with his sketchbook, out in the greenery or on a balcony, without reminders that he was Captain America.

“Not exactly, and there won’t be any plates. I know Tony tried that with you, and I can see why. But we’re going to work on something a bit more… practical.”

The response was an arched eyebrow. Steve offered her a smile. He figured his plan wasn’t exactly obvious. And, for the first time in likely a very long time, she was not using her telepathy or her brother to help her navigate the people around her.

“What I’m thinking is that I want you to practice how you can utilize your abilities in a battle situation. Plates, getting civilians to walk out on their own steam, those we know you can handle.”

“So what will I be doing? Messing with the minds of the enemy?”

“Nat’s considering that, but I want to concentrate on your telekinesis.”

Another arched eyebrow.

“I want you to put me up on one of those towers.”

“You’re joking.”

“No.”

Wanda looked at the little towers, then back to Steve.

“No.”

“I’m not easily breakable.”

“I don’t want to send you flying through the air, Steve. This is not… not a Disney movie where the witch can gently move people around. I could overshoot and send you careening into a nearby tree or not lift you high enough and bust your face against something. Again. I’d rather not break your nose this time.”

“It would be healed by breakfast.”

“What?”

He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“I said it would have been healed by breakfast, if you did.”

He stepped closer, looking her right in the eyes.

“I trust you. You’ll take care of your team.”

She took a breath, seeming to grow an inch and become more resolute.

“Which one do you want me to put you in?”

“First one. It’s the closest. On my mark.”

She nodded, bringing her left hand up to cause a small swirl of her power to curl around Steve. He swore it felt like the mist of walking into a cloud, but warmer and leaving the hairs on his arms and nape standing on end.

“Now.”

Wanda lifted him easily, though he dipped twice before she placed him on the platform. He had to kneel to make sure he did not bump his shins on the edge. Wanda growled from her position on the ground, throwing her hands up in the air and turning away from him.

“No, Wanda! Wanda, that was good. It was your first try. I didn’t expect perfection, and neither should you. You did better than I thought.”

Wanda paused, then turned to face him.

“You are not just giving me a pep-talk, to ensure I continue, are you?”

“I am not doing that, I’m telling you straight.”

“Honest?”

Unable to help it, he grinned.

“Ask Nat, I’m always honest. Now come on, let’s try it again?”

She nodded, then turned to face him, letting out another breath as she shook her hands as if working out some carpel tunnel cramp.

“On the count of three.”

Wanda gave him a thumbs-up.

“Three…Two…One… Now.”

He felt the mist of her power surround him for a second before she moved him to the next platform, a few feet higher in the air and fifteen feet off from the first one. This time, she let him hover a little above it before gently bringing him to his feet on the platform. Looking over, he saw the shocked look on her face.

“I did it. I DID IT! I did it, and I did not break you!”

Steve smiled, proud and excited for her.

“See? I told you that you could do it. Alright, let’s try it again. Next platform on the count of three?”

She answered with an excited nod, her face split with a wide smile. Steve had to say he much preferred that expression to the one she had worn earlier when he had first looked up after her telekinesis had face-planted him into the hallway floor. He didn’t blame her. He could tell she had been having her nightmares again. The dark circles, the shaky hands, the half-panicked expression, her lack of focus in the practice ring with Natasha. He had planned to ask her if she wanted to have breakfast with he and Sam before Bruce’s shouting had startled her so badly.

For the rest of the afternoon, they practiced this new skill. For now, he would suggest she try it only with he or Thor, as the two of them were durable enough to handle it if she dropped them or her aim was off. Natasha had already offered to be the next test subject and to help Steve work with Wanda in the future, to be able to move civilians and larger debris. It could come in handy for her to be able to pull a couple children from the line of fire or to be able to place a car between their enemy and something vital in need of shielding.

He had no doubt that Wanda would be able to make the whole team more effective in the field. She already seemed keen to help people and to earn the team’s trust. Steve was looking forward to seeing her progress and to bragging with Natasha, the next time Tony was in earshot. Tony was too hard on the girl. Even Natasha had been trying to get Tony to lay off a bit until Wanda was more comfortable with them.

“Do you want to try it with me standing?”

Wanda considered for a few seconds before nodding. Steve stood straight, rather than crouched and ready to pounce or fight, and waited. Wanda watched as he counted down with his fingers and then she carefully raised him a foot off the current platform and moved him horizontally over to the next. It had been slightly rocky towards the end, yet she had set him down gently enough that he did not have to work for his balance at all.

“Good job!”

Wanda did a small victory dance and Steve smiled, spotting Natasha watching from her favorite spot up in the Facility. She must have been staring at her favorite wall before she realized where Steve and Wanda were at, and decided to watch.

“Alright, let’s do it again. Count of three.”

Wanda nodded. Steve held up his three fingers and began to count down for her. At the rate she was going, they would be using this in the field by the end of the month. Hopefully, Steve figure, that would help her feel like a more productive member of the team and that would help her feel more at home in their company. He knew a thing or two about being in a strange place, among strangers, after recently losing a brother. It was not a fate he would wish on his worst enemy, let alone a mixed up kid that HYDRA had used to their own ends and Ultron had tried to break to suit his purpose.

And so they spent their last hours of daylight. Steve was sure to praise her often and honestly, pointing out where she needed to work a little more and where she needed to focus a little bit harder. They took breaks where she told him about her nightmares and he promised she had not hurt him terribly. When the dinner bells rang out, both of them were more than ready for a large meal and then some sleep. Steve walked back up to the Facility with her, listening as she told him an old joke, a corny one. His favorite kind.


End file.
